Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar nominated for the incredible 12 Years A Slave (also known as one of the few movies to ever make me openly sob in the theater), is the latest prestigious thespian to join the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ejiofor, long rumored to be a part of the upcoming Doctor Strange in some form or fashion, was confirmed today by Deadline to be playing the role of Baron Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme’s long-time enemy. In the comics, Mordo is Strange’s fellow pupil under the guise of The Ancient One (reportedly being played by Tilda Swinton), and after Strange thwarts Mordo’s plans to kill their instructor, they become adversaries.

Deadline’s report is quick to note that this version of the character will actually be “an amalgamation of characters culled from Doctor Strange’s mythology”. This sounds a bit similar to the approach taken with Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2, but hopefully the results will turn out a bit better here.

Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and will see release on November 4, 2016.

Entertainment Editor for The Beat covering film, television and the occasional comic book. His work can also be found at GeekRex.com and can be heard on the GeekRex podcast. Also, your go-to Grant Morrison/Love & Rockets/Hellboy/Legion of Super-Heroes expert.

Comments

Before my rant I want to explain one thing. None of what I am about to say should be taken as racist, feminist or any other kind of -ist, but this entire attitude of Marvel is becoming tiresome. Hey, let’s take an established character and make them A.) Black or B.) A Woman. Falling into neither category this is hard for me to say, but I think it’s a cop out that Marvel can’t just make new characters instead to encompass this. They did a new Ms. Marvel, right? This shouldn’t be that hard to do. Just seems like mindless lip service to me.

Douglas,http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-199999
It’s Earth-199999.
No idea if it still exists outside of the whole Secret Wars on Infinite Earths conglomeration.
Think of it as another version of the 616 Marvel Universe, like the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610).